It’s pretty awesome that Miho chose to open up the album with O2 (which was the promo song for the first “Soul Extreme”). I love AI and Miho together since their vocals sound so together and flow into each other quite nicely. The song does have a big Westernized sound to it which might be its biggest pull. Definitely a great way to kick things off!

2. Get Up! feat. AKIKO WADA

Moving onto the first track from the 2nd “Soul Extreme” is Get Up! and I loved the funky arrangement out of this one and this stood out to me more than “O2”. I still find it rather humorous listening to AKIKO’s vocals because she has such a husky and manly tone to her voice that it just kind of surprises me. I still find it an appealing song and a great standout to the album.

3. Open Eyes

Moving into our first new track, Open Eyes is the promotional song and I was kind of surprised she kept with the R&B style for the song but it’s got nice flow in it. It does remind me if “O2” in ways but at the same time has its flavor and chilled style that works for me. I like it quite a bit for some reason, even though it’s not my style. Not bad!

4. Dream On feat. Daichi Miura

I find it funny that Dream On is the only A-side released in this entire era between 3 mini-albums and such. Dream On doesn’t seem to be really much different from the previous tracks besides the obvious addition of Daichi. I do feel like the song sounds a bit weaker coming after the songs before so I’m really unsure how to feel totally, but it still was a great collaborative idea for these two strong vocalists.

5. STARLIGHT

So we get two tracks that originally came from “The Soul Extreme EP” and I thought she chose a good track to represent it. Though I would’ve actually chose “Better Than Love” (the English version of this song) just because I thought Miho did a much better job there. I still do like the Japanese rendition though and kind of brings us to a much calmer state of mind with this track.

6. Regrets of Love

I was surprised to see she included Regrets of Love onto the album because the same-titled mini-album came before the “Soul Extremes”. Listening to it now, I really get a Leona Lewis kind of feel which is nice but it’s a bit like the other songs I’ve heard so far. However, its a really pleasant track to listen too and it’s probably one of my favorites of her slower R&B songs.

7. DON’T TAKE IT AWAY

Lucky for us is that the rest of the album is nothing but new material from her starting with DON’T TAKE IT AWAY. I like that it opens up with acoustic guitar and kind of makes a jab at “O2” along the way. It’s definitely her most down to basics track on the album but that’s really nice because it showcases her voice quite nicely. Not a favorite but it’s quite enjoyable.

8. Kiss! Kiss! Kiss! feat. Chara

It wasn’t enough that Miho had covered “Milk” alongside Chara but she features her in a new track. It does continue to have more acoustics involved which is nice. I’m a little disturbed by the meshing of Chara and Miho which is pretty jagged. However alone, I do think Chara sounds soulful which is different but singing alongside Miho just kind of kills me. I can see that it would make people happy but…at the same time…maybe if it wasn’t Chara.

9. Cinnamon Dreams

The title of the next track actually caught my attention first (heh Cinnamon you see). I thought it was Miho being really classy and just having fun wuth the track which is sung in English. It’s a bouncy one for sure and it just puts me in a good mood ^_^

10. You

Things get back to what they sounded like in the first half of the album with R&B beats and kind of that Westernized sound. I mean it’s a nice song to listen to and the fact there’s electric guitar and a string section kind of impressed me quite a bit. Nice track, but kind of forgetful compared to the other tracks.

11. Save Me feat. Leona Lewis

Well I did mention that some of Miho’s songs are like Leona songs. Now we have a collaboration with these two powerful singers. At first, I couldn’t tell the difference but after a while it seems that Miho has a more throaty voice and her accent makes it obvious. That being said it feels like a Ryan Tedder-produced track and I’m not a fan of his. The song is quite dramatic and both ladies really brought it for the song so it’s up there!

12. Black Star

I was also intrigued by the title of our next track, Black Star which kind of sounds like a continuation of “Save Me” but without Leona and more emphasis on the beats. I do love the sprinkling of synths throughout the song’s chorus and Miho sounds great once again. Overall it’s a pretty solid track but I feel like it could’ve been more.

13. You Are the Reason feat. AI

Getting to the final track of the album, You Are the Reason is another collaboration with AI and this one seems to be more flowing and more emotional. I kind of just forget the song after a while but it does make for a pretty good closure to the album.

Tracks Recommended

Regrets of Love

Cinnamon Dreams

Save Me feat. Leona Lewis

Get Up! feat. AKIKO WADA

O2 featuring AI

Song of Avoidance

You Are the Reason feat. AI

Strange release this was, I mean three mini-albums and a single and we get The Best of Soul Extreme (which kind of seems pointless of a title since it only has three tracks from said Soul Extremes). I thought the album was good but that’s about as far as I get because none of the new songs were really standouts (maybe cept Cinnamon Dreams and Save Me). I just felt that this album lacked musical variety this time around and paid more attention to Miho herself. Oh yeah, there’s a 2nd disc but it’s just of covers she’s done in the past.